Cattle welfare is severely compromised in conflict zones where veterinary services collapse, feed supplies are disrupted, and animals may be displaced or deliberately targeted.
Cattle welfare in conflict zones deteriorates across all five welfare domains simultaneously: disrupted feeding, disease outbreaks without veterinary care, fear from conflict-related noise and displacement, injury from ordnance, and loss of normal social structures. Integrating livestock welfare into humanitarian response is both an animal welfare and food security imperative - healthy cattle underpin community livelihoods during recovery.